Sandcastle Beach (Matchmaker Bay #3) - Jenny Holiday Page 0,41

But he supposed the town was not that big. They didn’t fill all the seats in the theater.

She pulled her legs, which had been extended along the ground, up so her knees were bent and her feet were flat on the floor. He was in the same position, so now their upper thighs were touching, too. The entire left side of his body was tingling now. Maybe he was having a stroke?

They sat in silence for another minute until she said, “So, Lawson’s Lunch, eh?”

“Yeah.” Okay, here was his chance. That anger he’d been trying to rustle up earlier was completely gone, so he just asked her. “Did you tell Eiko about that?”

“No!” she exclaimed, whipping around to look at him, and her indignation seemed genuine. The move broke the contact between them, and he regretted the question.

Maybe Eiko didn’t know. Maybe her You’ll want to come to this meeting directive hadn’t had any deeper meaning. “You really didn’t tell anyone?”

“I promised you I wouldn’t. So why would you think I would? I mean, I know you hate me, but I like to think you also know me. A little, anyway.”

Aww, shit. He felt terrible. And she wasn’t even yelling at him, like he would expect. She just sounded quietly hurt. Also, he didn’t hate her. She annoyed the crap out of him a lot of the time, and he found his ever-simmering attraction to her wildly inconvenient, but he had never hated her.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know you wouldn’t do that. It’s just that Eiko’s been acting extra coy lately, and I thought…” What? What had he thought? He had jumped to the worst conclusion. It didn’t make him proud. “I’m…” Why could he not finish a sentence?

“Currently being manipulated and gaslit by Pearl and Eiko and Karl and maybe even the usually lower-key Art as they ask you to perform increasingly absurd ‘favors’ to such an extent that you’re questioning your very existence?” she suggested cheerfully.

He laughed. “Pretty much.”

“I didn’t tell them. I didn’t tell anyone. Not even Nora or Eve. I promise.”

She was still being uncharacteristically subdued, which made him feel like even more of a jerk. “Well, I told Sawyer and Jake, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Eve and Nora know, and— Oh, hang on.” He groaned.

“What?” she said.

“I just remembered I also told my firewood supplier. I wanted to find out if she could handle an order that was double the usual size on an ongoing basis.” Shirley lived on a big parcel of forested land and he never saw her in town other than when she was doing wood deliveries, so he hadn’t hesitated to tell her about his restaurant plans.

Maya made a theatrical noise of irritation. “So what you are saying is that a ton of other people know about your plans but you jumped to the conclusion that I’m the one who told on you. I mean, you irritate the hell out of me, Benjamin, but I would never carry out such a betrayal.”

Her emphasis on the I there, intimating that he would carry out such a betrayal, gave him pause.

“Lawson’s Lunch,” he said, going back to her original question. “I have this vision for it.” Why not tell her, since she already knew about his plans in the broad sense? And she was creative and entrepreneurial. She might have some good thoughts.

Which she probably wouldn’t deign to share with him, but whatever.

Mostly he felt like he should tell her something real. To make up for having assumed the worst about her.

“I want it to be a proper restaurant. More than pizza at the bar.” He braced for her to yell at him about the pizza oven. When she didn’t, he kept going. “I’m calling it Lawson’s Lunch because of the L thing, obviously, but also because I want it to have a casual vibe. Like an old-school lunch counter. Except with better food.”

“That’s a great idea.”

He blinked, surprised by her easy praise. “You think so?”

“Yeah, everyone loves your sandwiches at the festivals. And your stupid pizza, too. Not that I would know. I’ve never had it.” She sniffed as she returned to her original position with her back to the wall. Except this time, no part of her was touching him.

“Do you have any advice for me?”

She swiveled her head to look at him. The fading orange light was now making her skin glow like copper. “Why would you want my advice? You have a loan already. You might